Dnipro

Deminers

We're met by Stanislav, a police officer and explosives technician.

All police affairs related to explosives are our job. For example, if a suspicious bag is found at the station, that's our job. If there's a bomb threat at a hospital or shopping mall, we're the ones that show up. If an unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle is shot down somewhere or crashes, we're the ones they call.

These days, we also travel to demining areas in Kharkiv and Kherson oblasts, and we work in minefields in liberated territories. These weren't typical tasks for our unit before, but since the full-scale invasion started, we've had to learn new skills.

I've been working since 2014, so I don't know what it's like to work in peacetime before the war.

A moderate amount of fear is normal. The main thing is to keep fear from turning into panic and interfering with doing your job.

My biggest challenge is balancing work and family life.

My 10-year-old daughter knows what her dad does, and she's proud of me.

When people say 'Thank you', it's not just words. It means you saved someone's well-being, someone's life. This is the most important thing in my job that brings me joy.

We go down to the garage, where Stanislav and his colleague Serhii show us what's left of large objects that wouldn't fit on a shelf: pieces of drones and parts of ballistic missiles. Police officers' clothes are drying near the service vehicles and debris, a silent testament to how much time they spend on the job. Work and life have intertwined. As long as the country is at war, the work of explosives technicians has no end, and this building has become their second home.

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Rescuers

(Zaporizhzhia)